Dar stopped, but there was a perceptible pause before she turned, and when she did, her expression was dour. "What?"
As their relationship progressed, Kerry had learned bit by bit just what worked with Dar and what didn't. She had no idea what the heck was going on with her, but she knew enough to know that attempting to placate her at this point would do exactly jack squat. "Okay."
"Okay what?" Dar repeated, but in a slightly modified tone.
"Okay, we've both already cycled this month, and it's not a full moon. So let's blow this office and get some lunch." Kerry said. "Somewhere outside this building."
Dar hesitated, then she wrinkled her nose up and clucked her tongue. "I'm in a really pissy mood. You don't want to have lunch with me. Maybe I should just go to the corner and get a hot dog." She said. "Last person I want to wrangle with is you."
Kerry bumped her gently. "C'mon." She replied softly. "We'll talk about the new fish tank." She looked up into Dar's eyes, watching the strong planes of her partner's face shift a little as some of the storm clouds faded. "I'm sorry if I rubbed you the wrong way, I didn't mean to."
Dar scowled, but it was one of her more engaging ones. "S'allright. I didn't mean to be a touchy, whiny ass this morning." She eased closer, exhaling as her body relaxed. "Lunch sounds great. You can try and talk me into those boxing crabs." She gave Kerry a gentle pat on the side. "Let me go close my machine down and we can take off."
Kerry stepped back and watched as she left, her own body relaxing from the tension she always felt in the times when they disagreed. "Thank god it doesn't happen often." She turned and went back to her desk hitting her intercom button as she sat down. "Mayte? Was that anything critical? C'mon in."
After a moment, the outer door opened, and Mayte poked her head in and entered, crossing over to Kerry's desk. "It was Mr. Jose. He has a gigantic problem with something in Los Angeles." She handed over a piece of paper with some notes. "I wrote down what it is he said, but he wants to talk to you."
Kerry reviewed the notes. "Well, he's going to have to wait until after lunch." She decided. "Dar's in a mood, and I'm going to work on getting her out of it. Let him know I'll be up to his office when I get back."
Mayte blinked at her. "Si." She agreed softly. "I will do that. And thank you before, Kerry, for your advice. It is appreciated."
"No problem." Kerry smiled. "Good luck."
Mayte smiled back, then left.
Kerry leaned back and studied the closed door. "Nah." She shook her head. "It's not me." With a click, she locked her computer screen, and headed off to wrangle fish.
Chapter Five
"OH, SHIT!"
It was like something exploding against her head. One moment she was spinning into a defensive kick block and the next the world was turning over around her and the floor was coming up way too fast at a very wrong angle.
"Ker!" Dar dropped her hands and bolted ducking under the arm of her startled sparring partner. Kerry's body had barely hit the mat before she was dropping to a knee at her side, reaching for the arm Kerry had curled around her head.
"Jesus! I'm really sorry!" Kerry's sparring partner also knelt, looking mortified. "Man, I didn't mean to kick you like that!"
"Ow...not your fault." Kerry hissed. "I stepped into it. Damn...that hurt." She half rolled over, recognizing the arms closing around her. "I'm used to someone taller."
"Easy." Dar pulled her hand away. "Let me see."
"Ahh, Dr. Dar." Kerry turned her head slightly, her face only half visible under her foam protective gear. "I think his boot..."
"Got you right in the eye." Dar winced.
Several other students gathered around with concerned expressions. The teacher came over, crouching down next to them with a frown. "What happened?"
Dar eased the head protector off, pushing Kerry's sweaty blond locks back to reveal an angry, red patch starting above her right eyebrow and extending across her eye to her cheek bone The eye itself was closed, moisture leaking from the inside corner. "Oh, boy."
Kerry reached up, then let her hand fall when Dar gently took hold of her face. "We were going through that new roundhouse kick, and I turned the wrong way," she said. "Ow."
"That's gonna bruise." One of the other students said sympathetically. "You should get some ice on it."
"Yeah." The instructor agreed. "I think you should, too." He glanced across the training room. "We're done here, anyway. I was about to call practice."
"Me, three." Dar responded promptly. "C'mon, Ker."
Not really wanting to be picked up and carried, Kerry carefully rolled onto her side, then got her knees under her. She was glad of Dar's steadying hand, though, because when she tried to open her eye, the stinging tears made her promptly shut it again.
It hurt like hell. She got to her feet, with Dar's hands firmly grasping her wrist and upper arm and stood a moment, getting her balance. "Jesus, that hurts."
Dar made a small noise, which Kerry recognized immediately. She took a deep breath and steadied herself, straightening up and giving her partner a pat on the side. "Okay, give me a second to catch my breath, then we can head for the icebox."
"I think we should detour." Dar said, tilting Kerry's head up to the light and looking at the forming bruise. "I'd like Dr. Steve to take a look at that."
"Dar..."
"That's a very good idea." Don, the instructor, interjected. "I think Dar is right."
"God, I'm so sorry." Kerry's sparring partner repeated. "Kerry, I don't think you moved wrong, I think I did. I was supposed to go right."
Kerry felt a headache coming on, and her eye was stinging badly now. She didn't want to have to go to the doctor, but she didn't want to stand there arguing either. "Okay." She nodded. "Let's go." She let Dar guide her to the locker room, and sat quietly as her partner unlaced her gloves and removed them.
"That's gonna hurt." Dar muttered. "Son of a bitch."
"He didn't do it on purpose, hon." Kerry felt the headache getting worse, and she didn't object when Dar took her by the shoulders and eased her up onto her feet, so she could strip the workout gear off her body. "I'm going to have a black eye, aren't I?"
Dar cupped her face in both hands. "Oh yeah." She informed her regretfully. "Can you open that eye?" She watched as a sliver of very bloodshot white and a bit of green appeared. "Can you see?"
Kerry closed her other eye and blinked a few times, then nodded. "Yeah, it just hurts." She reassured Dar. "I think I just need a cold compress." She paused. "Or maybe the old fashioned cure--a chilled piece of roast beef."
Dar managed a short laugh. "I think it's supposed to be raw sirloin." She tossed Kerry's gear into her locker, and handed her a t-shirt. "Slip that on. Let me get this junk off me."
Kerry eased the shirt over her head as Dar stripped out of her own gear and rid herself of her sweat drenched shirt, pulling a gray heather tank top over her sports bra. "Hey, Dar?"
Dar turned and faced her. "Hmm?"
"You're really sexy when you're grubby. How do you do that?"
Dar carefully looked around and then back at her. "Are you trying to distract me from taking you to the doctor?"
"Me?" Kerry eased her small duffel over her shoulder. "Would I do that? No. I was just making an observation." She meekly followed Dar from the locker room, tangling her fingers in the waistband of Dar's shorts as the throbbing in her head intensified.
Maybe going to the doctor wasn't a bad idea after all.
"LOOK UP, KIDDO."
Kerry did her best, squinting at Dr. Steve through her half open eye, now puffy with swelling and very tender.
Dr. Steve clucked his tongue. "I don't know what I'm gonna do with you kids. Can't you take up something like bowling? What's all this chop socky stuff, anyway?"
"It's more fun than bowling." Kerry protested faintly. "Honest. I don't usually get my noggin kicked."
She was lying on her back on the examining table, still fully clothed due to the office's chill. Dar was huddled o
n a stool next to the foot of the table, her arms leaning on the leather as she watched Dr. Steve like a hawk.
"Uh huh. Likely story," the doctor said. "Except I've been patching up old blue eyes down there since she was a tot, and she still doesn't have the sense to take up croquet after all these years." He touched the side of Kerry's face gently. "Well, chipmunk, you've got a real nice bruise there, but it doesn't look like anything's permanently broken."
"Mmph." Kerry grunted in some relief. "My head hurts."
"I'm sure it does." Dr. Steve chuckled. "You were lucky you had you some Styrofoam over your face, or you'd have broken that cute little nose, I'm thinking. As it is, you just need a bag of ice, and some TLC." He turned and looked at Dar. "You'll take care of that, right?"
Dar propped her chin up on her fist, and managed a half grin. "Yeah, I think I can handle that."
"You think?" Kerry nudged her with one knee. "Tell you what, you can walk around with me at work and explain why I look like I had a run in with the ultimate fighting squad tomorrow. Otherwise I'll have to wear a sign around my neck."
"Sugar, if you still got that headache, stay out of that office tomorrow." Dr. Steve advised. "You didn't break anything, but if you hang around in there getting your blood pressure up, it'll just make for a worse bruise." He leaned on the table with both hands and studied Kerry. "Speaking of which, let me get a check on that little old thing."
Kerry tried to relax her body fully as she waited for him to come back with the pressure cuff, not really worried, but not really confident either. She'd been watching herself lately, making sure she lay off the salt, and avoiding too much caffeine, but she wasn't sure the recent aggravation wouldn't show up on Dr. Steve's annoyingly accurate cuff meter.
She'd been borderline on her last examination, much better than before she'd gone on vacation, but still not in a range either the doctor or she felt comfortable with for a normal baseline. Now, after having to go through the stress of the bid, she was sure it was going to be at least as bad.
Hopefully not worse. With a little sigh, she glanced down at Dar. The taller woman was looking back at her with wry sympathy, and they exchanged brief grins.
She felt Dar's fingers curl around her lower leg, and a gentle stroking start up on the inside of her knee. A surprising tension eased from her, and she watched in almost benign regard as the cuff was fitted around her arm and the tension increased.
It tightened further, held, then relaxed after a few seconds. "Very nice." Dr. Steve pronounced. "You've been being a good girl, I see."
Faintly surprised, Kerry managed a nod. "Trying to." She agreed. "Glad it's working."
The doctor patted her shoulder comfortingly. "You keep it up, Kerry. I don't want to have to be your whiny, old doctor too frequently." He turned and glanced at Dar. "Okay, take this little prizefighter home and put her to bed."
Dar unwound her long legs from the stool and stood up, visibly relieved. "Don't worry, I will." She promised. "Anything we can do for that except ice?"
"Nope." Dr. Steve turned and studied the X-ray he had taken of Kerry's skull, reviewing it one last time. He ran a finger over the bony ridge around Kerry's eye and leaned closer. "It's fine, honey. Just a black eye that's gonna drive her nuts for a few days."
Dar sighed.
"I'll live." Kerry sat up and hopped off the table. "Hey, I've never had a black eye before. Have you?" She asked her partner.
"Yes." Both Dar and Dr. Steve answered at once. Dar gave her old family friend a slit eyed look, but then just chuckled and shook her head.
"This scrappy little thing had more fights as a tyke than a Chihuahua in a pack of Dobermans," Dr. Steve said. "Wasn't a week she wasn't in here with something or other--broken arm, broken ankle...cracked skull, you name it. Ran out of lollipops one week when she'd been here three times."
Dar put her hands on her hips. "C'mon. I wasn't that bad."
"Honey, your files are right in there." Dr. Steve pointed. "I don't make this stuff up."
Kerry put her arms around Dar and gave her a hug. "C'mon. You can tell me all about your fearless battles while I put that steak on my eye."
Dar returned the hug, kissing the top of Kerry's head affectionately, then pausing in mild embarrassment as Dr. Steve chuckled and shook his head. After a moment's frown, she shrugged one shoulder and hugged Kerry again, patting her back gently. "How about we get that steak cooked, and use my gel pack instead. It's less messy, and Chino won't be trying to eat it off your face."
"Okay." Kerry agreed. "Whatever you say, babe. You're in charge."
Dr. Steve walked them out to the front room, where the lights were mostly out and the building silent. When they reached the door, Dar clapped her old friend on the arm. "Thanks for meeting us. I appreciate it.?"
"Any time, Dar." The doctor patted her on the back, and carefully ruffled Kerry's hair. "You take care of her, okay?"
"Always." Kerry answered before Dar could. "Thanks, Dr. Steve." She released her partner, and gave their doctor a brief hug. "Take care."
"You too, Kerry." The older man responded, holding the door open for them. "Drive safe, eh?"
"I will." Dar promised, as they walked out into the tropical night, and headed for home.
NOT LONG AFTER, Kerry was laying on their leather couch with the promised gel pack draped over the side of her face as she listened to Dar accept their dinner delivery at the door. Her head was still hurting, but the pain had at least reached a plateau, and the rest of her body was far more comfortable, nestled into the the couch.
She'd never had a black eye before, and from her brief glimpse in the mirror before Dar pointedly steered her toward the couch, she'd certainly started off with a doozy of one. The bruise extended all around her eye and halfway across her cheekbone, and it was a little scary looking.
She wasn't looking forward to explaining it to everyone. It reminded her suddenly of a classmate of hers in college, who'd gotten involved in some chancy business her boyfriend was doing and went crossways of him.
Sarah, her name had been, Kerry recalled. She'd come to class one day with a huge black eye, and explained it away with a laugh, as an accident that occurred when she'd been taking something out of the refrigerator.
No one had believed her. Everyone thought the boyfriend had beaten her up. Kerry sighed, and shrugged a shoulder. At least everyone knew she did martial arts, so it would be more embarrassing than anything else especially since she didn't have a criminally inclined boyfriend.
"All right." Dar settled next to her on the edge of the couch, setting something down on the table. "How's it feeling?"
Just an endearingly overprotective spouse. "Ucky." Kerry responded honestly. "Dar, I look like a poster child for the anti-boxing league." She reached up to touch the ice pack. "Freaky."
"Nah." Dar unwrapped their dinner.
"Yes, I do." Kerry draped one hand over her partner's thigh. "What'd you get?"
"Open up and you'll find out."
Obediently, Kerry opened her mouth and waited, biting down instinctively when something was placed inside it. She chewed and swallowed, then smiled. "Mm. Orange chicken." She was happy to taste a favorite of hers.
"Yeah, I figured it would be easier for you to chew than a sirloin." Dar touched the side of Kerry's face gently. "You said it was a little sore here."
"Mm." Kerry moved her jaw from side to side slightly. "Yeah, it is. What else you got?"
Dar lifted the cool pack momentarily, then set it back down a little to one side. Despite her casual dismissal, the bruise did look horrific, and the green eye under the compress was swollen almost shut. "Green beans and chipotle polenta."
"Ah, Spicy grits." Kerry started to ease up onto her elbow. "My favorite."
"Lie down." Dar took hold of her shoulders and pressed her back down. "Let that ice pack do its thing." She waited until Kerry complied, then went back to arranging the plates. There was no real easy way for her to accomplish her task of getting he
r ailing partner fed, but then, she was never much into doing things the easy way, so improvisation was in order.
Carefully, she lifted the plate up, then hoisted herself up and over Kerry's legs to settle between her partner and the back of the couch.
"Mm." Agreeably, Kerry squirmed over a little, giving Dar more space as she felt the plate settle on her stomach.
"There." Dar propped her head up on her hand, working the fork with the other as she selected a piece of chicken. "How's that?" She rumbled right into Kerry's nearby ear.
Kerry merely grinned as a response. She'd taken some ibuprofen and she had her ice pack, but there was something about having Dar this close that beat both of those. She accepted the chicken, and sighed. "I still can't believe I was that stupid."
"Ker."
"Well, I was."
"He moved wrong, you didn't." Dar argued.
"You're just saying that." Kerry picked up a green bean and nibbled it. "You didn't even see it happen, did you?"
Dar scowled.
"See?"
"I know you didn't do it wrong." Dar stubbornly insisted. "That guy's a nitwad. He's got the reflexes of a gumby." She grumbled. "I should have kicked his ass in the last round, and maybe..."
"Dar, Dar, Dar." Kerry tapped her partner on the head. "Stop that." She dropped her hand to Dar's neck and kneaded the back of it. "Tell me about how you ended up in Dr. Steve's office so much, huh? Take my mind off this."
Dar offered her a forkful of polenta. "I scrapped." She admitted briefly. "I fought with anything that got in my way and it didn't matter how much bigger than me they were." Her eyebrows twitched a little.
"And I was a little accident prone."
"You?"
"Uh huh."
"I find that very hard to believe. You're disgustingly graceful."
Dar chuckled wryly. "Now, most of the time, sure," she said. "But I grew six inches between sixth and seventh grade. I gave myself concussions just getting in and out of the damn truck." She offered another green bean. "Wasn't pretty."
"Hmm." Kerry regarded the long body fitted against hers. "I guess sometimes short has its moments. I think the most I grew in any year was about an inch, maybe." She reached up and traced Dar's cheekbone. "But I bet you were pretty anyway."
Stormy Waters: Book 10 in The Dar & Kerry Series Page 13
